TCS layoffs: The Union of IT & ITES Employees (UNITE) staged a protest in Chennai on Tuesday against the layoffs of 12,000 employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The layoffs will impact mid and senior-level employees.

TCS layoffs: 30,000 employees to be fired?

“Union of IT and ITES Employees protested today in Chennai against the announced TCS layoff of 12,000 employees and the government inaction,” UNITE said on X (formerly Twitter).

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Alongside, the organisation posted pictures of people protesting against the layoffs by the IT firm. They have banners, flags and placards in their hands.

One of the placards reads: “Secret to stop layoffs: ‘Unionise’.”

The placards also tagged top management as “Chief of Cruelty” and “Chief of Corporate Greed”.

“TCS is in the process of laying off staff at senior and managerial levels. At the end of this, nearly 30,000 to 40,000 staff may lose their jobs,” The New Indian Express quoted Janani of UNITE as saying.

The union of IT employees further alleged that the company has been hiring freshers at 80-85 per cent lower pay to replace experienced employees.

TCS rubbishes 30,000 layoffs claim

In a statement to FinancialExpress.com, TCS dismissed the layoffs of 30,000 employees.

“These speculations are incorrect and misleading. As communicated earlier, the impact is limited to 2 per cent of our workforce,” TCS said in a statement. 

The union demanded that the IT firm should upskill the employees instead of “discarding” them. 

“With a revenue of 2.55 lakh crore and an operating profit margin of 24.3% and a 45,588 crore dividend, 12,000 jobs are slashed,” a part of the press release by UNITE read.

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In an August 17 post, UNITE said that the IT firm is “retrenching” workers for “profit”. 

“TCS is retrenching workers not out of necessity, but for profit. Targeting senior employees & pushing illegal layoffs is an attack on job security across IT,” the IT firm said. 

It added, “Workers are not numbers on a balance sheet — we demand justice!”